Type-writing machine



2SheetS-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

G. s. HEATH. 'TYPE WRITING MAGHINE.

No. 475,057. Patented May 1.7, 1892.

l' Ill I (No Model.) 2 Sheets--Sheet 2.

G. S. HEATH. TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

. No. 475,057. Patented May-17, 189,2.

j UNITED STATES PATENT Erice.

GEORGE S. HEATH, OF SPRNGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

. TYPE-WRITING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATIONforming part of Letters Patent N0. 475,057, dated May 1'?, 1892.

Application tiled August '7,1890- Serial No. 361,332. (No model.)

T0 all whom, it may concern:

Beitknown that I, GEORGE S. HEATH, acitizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in lthe count-y of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvement-s in Letter-SpacingEscapem ents for Type-W'riting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to type-writing machines, the object being to provide for such machines improved letter-spacin g escapement mechanism; and the invention consistsin the peculiar construction and arrangement of said escapement devices and means for operating the same, all as hereinafter fully de-l scribed, and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of the rear side of atype-writing machine having applied thereto letter-spacing escapement mechanism embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a perspective view, and Fig. 3 a rear side elevation, of said escapement devices showing the same in different operative positions. Fig. 4 is a plan View of the escapement mechanism and of the ratchet-bar of the machine, said Figs. 2 and'3 also showing said ratchet-bar in connection with said escapement mechanism.

In the drawings, A indicates the ordinary frame of a type-writing machine, and K the key-levers thereof, and 2 indicates the top ring of the machine, to which an escapementsupport 3 is attached, as shown in Fig. 1. The said support 3 is provided with laterallyextended arms in which a vertical post4 has its bearingsand has a rocking motion therein. To the upper end of said post 4 is rigidly attached a bracket 23, to which the es- Vcapement devices proper are pivoted, as below described. The said post 4 has a coiled spring 5 thereon, the lower end of which engages with a pin 7 in said post, and the upper end of said spring has a suitable engagement with the upper arm x on the support 3 to the effect that said spring may act to rock said post and said bracket 23 in one direction for the purpose below set forth.

The usual ratchet-bar 19 is supported on the table 17 at the rear side of the machine, which table as ordinarily arranged is so hung by its inner edge that its outer or rear edge table 17. By springing the free end of the hook 18 away from said table 17 the latter may be .turned up, as aforesaid, and upon its return to the position shown in Fig. l it automatically re-engages with said hook. Said table 17 is caused to slide to the rightin Fig. 1, when permitted to do so by the escapement devices, by the action of a spring-drum 20, around which a cord 22 is wound, one end of which is connected with said table, and thereby the serrated edge of the ratchet-bar 19 is moved step by step past the hooked ends of the escapement arms. The said letterspacin g escapement devices consist of an arm 8 of suitable metallic construction, but preferably made from sheet-steel pivoted by one end to the bracket-support 23, above referred to, whereby said arm is permitted tov have a vibratory motion in a vertical plane, and the free end of said arm 8 has a hook o thereon eX- tending laterally toward and adapted t0 engage with the teeth of said ratchet-bar 19, and in practice said hook has a curvature in consonance with a circle which it describes when said free end of the arm is depressed, swinging upon its pivotal connection with said bracket 23. Said arm 8 is cut back or notched in its hook=bearing end under the hook thereon, as shown clearlyin Figs. 2and 3, and a pin w is fixed in said arm near its pivot-point and extends into a`curved slot in said bracket 23 and serves to regulate or' limit the vertical swinging movement of the hooked end of said arm. A spacing-stop 9, having screw-slots therethrough, as shown, is attached to the side of said arm 8 by screws passing through said slots into the latternamed arm 8, said spacing-stop being so attached to said arm in order that it may have a sliding movement thereon, and said spacingstop has a hook o on its outer end, which is substantially of the form of said hook o on the arm. 8, and in the sliding movement which said spacing-stop has on arm 8, as below described, the hook o thereon is moved from opposite the end of said hook o toward the IOO bracket 23, and in so doing its hook t is drawn into said notch in the end of arm 8. A stud is fixed by one end in said arm 8, and by means of said stud a connecting-rod 13 is connected with said arm, the lower end 'of said rod having a suitable connection with the end of an arm 15, which is fixed on a universal bar 14, which is pivoted on the lower portion of the frameA of the machine and extends horizontally over the key-levers K, and has a rocking or vibratory motion caused by the engagement therewith of a hook 1G, the latter being drawn against the `upper side of said bar 14 whenever one ot' said key-1evers is depressed to strike a letter in type writing, and hence each time that such letter is struck said bar 14 is vibrated and the esarm 8 and has one end engaging with said arm and its opposite end pressing against a pin projecting from the side of the spacingstop 9, whereby the latter is caused to slide to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, or outwardly on arm 8. The aforesaid rocking motion of the post 4 and the bracket 23, the said escapement-arm 8 having its pivotal connection with the latter, permits the free end of said arm and the hooked end of the escapemen t-stop 9 to have va vibratory motion toward and from the serrated edge of the ratchetbar 19, the spring 5 on said post 4 acting to swing the hooked ends of said escapement parts toward said bar, and the action of the teeth on the latter against said hooks when the bar is moved along by hand, together with its supporting-table, swings the hooked ends ot' the bar and stop more or less from the edge of the ratchet-bar against the action of said spring 5.

The operation of the within-described improvements in letter-spacing is as follows: Fig. 2 clearly illustrates the position of the hooked arm 8 and the spacing-stop 9, while said parts are in position to retain the table 17, on which is the ratchet-bar 19 and to the frame of which table the paper-platen B is hung in the usual way in the positions which said parts occupy before a type-key of the machine is struck-that is to say, a tooth of said ratchet-bar is in engagement with the hook u of the spacing-stop 9, causing the latter by the force of the spring-drum 2O to press against said spacing-stop and slide it to the position shown in Fig. 2 against the resistance of the spring 12. When a letter-key is pressed down, the universal bar 14 is caused to swing downward by the action thereagainst of a hook 16 on the type-bar, and consequently the escapement-arm 8 is caused to swing downward to the position shown in Fig. 3, carrying the hook o thereon downward and into engagement with the tooth of the ratchet-bar next beyond the one last engaged by the spacing-stop 9. The hooked end of the latter being thus free from engagement with the ratchet-bar, the stop 9 slides endwise to the position shown in Fig. 3, the ratchet-bar thus being held in the position that said spacingstop held it by the hook of the arm 8, and upon the release of said letter-key audits lever, so that the latter may swing upward, the arm 8 swings likewisein that direction,bringing the l hooked end of the sp-acing-stop 9 into engagement with the tooth of the ratchet-bar just named as in engagement with the hook of arm 8 and the spacing-stop 9 now yields to the pressure of said ratchet-bar and permits the latter, its table, and the paper-platen to move horizontally the extent of one tooth, or, in other words, the extent of the sliding motion which the spacing-stop is permitted to have to carry it from the position shown in Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 2.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In-a letter-spacing mechanism for typewriting machines, the combination, with the ratchet-bar for the carriage, of an arm 8, having the hook o and the spacing-stop consisting of a plate-like portion provided with longitudinal slots and the hook fu, the screws passing through said slots into said arm, the spring yapplied relative to the arm and stop for sliding the stop longitudinally on the bar in one direction, aA supporting-bracket on which the said arm is pivotally hung for a swinging movement in a vertical plane, and

a vertical post on which said bracket is mounted and which in turn is mounted for a rotational movement on a fixed axis, whereby the bracket may be swung in a horizontal plane, the spring applied on said post for turning it to keep the bracket and said hooked parts in engagement with the said ratchetbar, the key-levers, and a medium of connection between the same and the arm 8, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In combination, the post 4, supported to rock on the machine, the bracket 23, fixed on one end of said post, the spring 5 to rock said post,'the escapement-arm 8, pivoted to .said bracket and having a pin w thereon en- GEORGE S. HEATH.

Witnesses:

C. A. BRIGHAM, I-I. A. CHAPIN.

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